I've seen people projecting them with a win total in the high '80s and low '90s - that's surprising to me. With 4 pitchers like they have, 95 wins should be reasonable.

But then, they're all on the older side except for Hamels. And their core position players are older and injury-prone, too. It may be within the realm of possibility that they don't live up expectations and maybe even come in 2nd to the Braves in the EAst.

Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA projections have them going 91-71. Nats last in the division at 70-92.

Why They Might Win: The Nats won’t win in the classical sense, but they can achieve a victory of sorts by not losing the services of any more young pitchers to injury while waiting for Stephen Strasburg to make a triumphant return and lead the team to contention down the road.

Why They Might Not Win: Unfortunately, there’s little uncertainty here; the Nats are projected to allow far more and score far fewer runs than any other team in the division. Jordan Zimmermann is the only potential bright spot in an otherwise lackluster rotation, and Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman alone do not a productive lineup make.

Player Who Could Surprise: Catcher Jesus Flores lost last season to labrum surgery following an injury-plagued 2009, but was last seen posting an 877 OPS in limited action. Now healthy, the 26-year-old is back in Nats camp and poised to bounce back. PECOTA foresees a modest .249/.312/.394 performance, but even that would be a significant improvement over 39-year-old starter Ivan Rodriguez’s projected .246/.274/.337 line.

Player Who Could Disappoint: Jayson Werth’s restored facial hair won’t disappoint, but his bat might lose some of its luster away from Citizens Bank Park. PECOTA thinks a .266/.363/.471 triple-slash line is in store; while that’s useful, it doesn’t scream “franchise player” quite as loudly as a seven-year, $126-million contract.

Chad Durbin officially signs with Manny Acta's AAAA team, the Indians. They plan on using him out of the bullpen.

Quite frankly, I'm shocked Millwood is still on the market. I was dead certain that he'd get signed this week by the Cardinals after the Wainwright apocalypse. It'll be interesting to see just how long he remains on the market with quite a few teams still in need of SP. Personally, I think it's a huge mistake on St. Louis' part to let him go after losing their ace. Then again, the fact there was any talk at all of them trading Carpenter after Wainwright went down, even if it never would have happened, means I don't get where St. Louis' head is at at all right now post-Wainwright and considering the Pujols' situation.

Play community college teams!!! 21-1! 4 hits to 20 hits! One more run scored than hits! So with eight walks, they scored every runner save seven. Lasting only seven innings, I'm guessing a mercy rule of some kind factored into it?

Don't you just love dropping the Cardinals' first baseman's name in some random conversation in public when you are not surrounded by people who know baseball? "I'd love for us to find Pujols near the Navy Yard some night." Just to see the reaction.

The Orioles' farm system lacks depth, especially in comparison to its AL East rivals, writes FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal. "The team’s offseason moves...represent nothing more than a Band-Aid," Rosenthal says, noting that the O's "are practically a zero" when it comes to international scouting. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes examined these issues in his offseason-in-review piece about Baltimore earlier today.

Here's an article on the Phillies from Byron Kerr. Talks about Dominic Brown going 0-9 so far this spring with 6 strikeouts which truly warms my heart. Also talks about a potential chronic knee issue for Utley.

The Phils may be ripe for a letdown this season despite the 4 aces. I thought they'd easily win 95+ but now I"m not quite as sure. Rollins, Utley, and Ramirez are all showing signs of age and Howard can't do it by himself.